Groton — Representative Town Meeting voted last week to write a letter asking the Town Council to bring to the forefront its own list of referrals, one being establishment of a Charter Revision Commission.

The RTM approved the amended motion 14-10, with one abstention, after a different amended motion failed to pass due to a tie vote.

The other amended motion would have sent a letter to the Town Council asking it to consider including an advisory question on the November 2016 ballot stating: "Would you support a charter revision in order to establish a townwide budget referendum?"

It failed in a 12-12 tie, with two members abstaining in the roll call vote.

In between the first and second vote, one RTM member left, causing questions about how many members were still present and leading to a second roll call vote.

Under the current budget process, the Groton Town Council reviews the budget, then passes it on to the RTM for further review and a vote. If residents are dissatisfied, they can talk to their elected representatives, but they have no direct say as to what happens.

Several nearby towns hold budget referendums including Stonington, North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston. creating  

Jean-Claude Ambroise, chairman of the RTM's rules and procedures committee, initially asked the full RTM to send a letter to the Town Council to consider including an Advisory Question on the November ballot stating: "Would you support a charter revision in order to establish a town wide budget referendum."

But his motion was amended.

RTM member Lian Obrey supported asking the council to consider a charter revision without mentioning a budget referendum. She said much has changed since the charter was last discussed.

"We've been hit especially hard because of the job losses that we've had in the area," she said. "We do have some job buildup going on because of (Electric Boat), but we have a long ways to go to climb out of this hole that we're in."

Asking the council to consider charter revision would not be out of order as it's been on the council's own to-do list, she said.

But RTM member Douglas Monaghan, who voted against both amendments, said individual members and not the full RTM should speak to the council about charter revision.

"The structure of our government is — is not dependent on the rise and the fall of the stock market or the federal interest rate," he said. "We have a structure."

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim